Geese are beautiful creatures when you see them at a local pond or floating on a lake, but they can be a real nuisance when they start congregating on your lawn. Not only are they messy, but their droppings can also damage your grass. These big, bulky birds can make a mess of our lawn and garden in a hurry, and they can be really hard to get rid of.
However, with a little bit of effort, you can keep these pests off your property and enjoy a clean and peaceful yard. There are steps you can take to discourage geese from settling on your property. Goose deterrents can come in many forms, from simple things like leaving a radio on to more elaborate solutions like getting a border collie to herd them away.
In this blog post, we’ll share some tips on how to keep geese off your lawn. Keep reading for more information!
Why Have Geese Started Living On My Lawn?
While geese primarily live around ponds and lakes and other bodies of water, they can just as easily set up residence in your backyard or garden. What matters to geese and their offspring are two main factors – safe living conditions and abundant food sources.
For example, if you have a large lawn full of healthy grass and a water feature, and it is hedged or fenced in on every side, then geese would feel fully at home in that location. The healthier your lawn is, the more they would enjoy it.
Also, some geese do not migrate, which means once they’ve found a place they feel comfortable living, they can live there all year round and won’t want to leave. If you don’t immediately take action when you first see geese moving in to your yard, then they can grow in size and population quickly and it will be harder and harder to remove them.
So, what are some options that you cane take to remove these pesky geese from your property? We’ve enumerated some in a list below.
Tips On How to Keep Geese Out Of Your Yard
As mentioned above, geese are annoying and damaging when they take root in your garden. They can even be dangerous to small children and pets, so it’s best to get rid of them as soon as possible.
The good news is there are quite a few ways to both remove geese from living on your lawn as well as to keep them from coming back.
#1) Never Feed the Geese
This should be the primary message to anyone who has or had geese living on their property. Neither you or anyone in your household should ever feed the geese, or even distribute food in your backyard if there is a chance they can eat it.
Once geese associate your house with food, it will be many times harder to remove them, and they will continue to come back as well.
#2) Grow Your Grass Taller
Areas with tall grass are places that geese instinctively try to avoid. This is due to the fact that there can be any amount of predators that can hurt or even kill them waiting in the grass.
So, if you want to keep geese from finding your backyard in the first place, allow your grass to grow taller than 6 inches or so. They will then avoid it. If you have a pond, you might want to keep it even higher, and the higher it grows the more likely geese will stay away from it.
#3) Use a Decoy Animal
This uses the same principle that is in effect in a cornfield with a scarecrow – if the birds think there is a predator or another animal that can harm them or their offspring, or diminish their supply of food, then they will find somewhere else to live.
A decoy dog, wolf, coyote, alligator head, or even fake swans would be an effective way to scare them off, as geese are scared of all of these animals. And this way is relatively cheap, it doesn’t affect your life or your neighbor’s, and it doesn’t harm the geese in any way. This should be your first plan when geese start living in your garden.
#4) Sound and Light Are Effective Deterrents
Geese, like many animals, are easily frightened by light and sound. Sometimes something as simple as playing a radio is enough to get them to leave and not come back. You can also create fake geese distress calls, or get devices that emit ultrasounds, so that you can’t hear them but the geese can.
Strobe lights are also effective, especially at night. If you set up a motion sensor to trigger a strobe light in your yard, then any time geese come in they will get scared away. However, this could be annoying to yourself or others, so be sure to take that into account.
#5) Dogs Can Scare the Geese Away
If you have or are planning on getting a dog, they can often provide just enough reason for a goose to not want to settle down in your yard. The best breeds for scaring away geese already living in your property are Border Collies, German Shepherds, and Australian Cattle Dogs.
However, most dogs will be productive at making the geese uneasy and less likely to root. Just make sure you have the facilities and abilities to care for a dog, as it is a lot of work to keep one.
#6) Use a Sprinkler with Motion Sensors
Again, the idea with this plan is to just make your yard annoying and uncomfortable for a goose to live in. They don’t like the sudden and direct deluge of water that would accompany them any time they perch on your lawn, so they are much less likely to find it a nice place to stay.
#7) Spray a Goose Deterrent
Goose deterrent sprays work by repelling geese due to both taste and smell – you spray your garden and the geese dislike the smell and taste of anything they might eat in it, and therefore need to find somewhere else for food.
You can easily buy a deterrent spray online, or create your DIY one with a chemical such as Methyl-anthranilate, such that the geese will not be able to tolerate eating your grass.
#8) Fence In Your Yard
Geese like to wander. Fencing in your yard, while not deterring them from flying in, will keep them from simply wandering in and taking over, which is often how they find backyards in the first place. It doesn’t need to be a large or impenetrable fence; simply stringing some wires across will do.
Particularly if you have a pond, stringing up a few wires, one 6 inches off the ground and the other a foot above that, will effectively stop geese from drinking its water.
Conclusion
Geese can be a nuisance to homeowners and property managers. They leave droppings everywhere, eat the grass in your yard, create noise at night with their honking, and are an immense pest for golf courses. When geese are hungry, they also peck at other, more decorative plants in your yard like trees and shrubs.
But you don’t have to worry! There are plenty of ways you can keep geese off your lawn without having to harm them or go crazy chasing after them all day long.
We’ve compiled 8 methods that will help scare away these feathered creatures so your home doesn’t suffer any more damage than it already has from their presence. Which one of these tips have you tried? What other strategies do you use to get rid of geese on your property? Let us know by sending us an email or leaving a comment below!
